


waiting for Papá

by evenifwecantfindheaven



Category: Coco (2017)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-12 21:09:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21232526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evenifwecantfindheaven/pseuds/evenifwecantfindheaven
Summary: poem from Coco's prospective, oneshot(character death but nothing that isn't canon)





	waiting for Papá

Frost on windows  
Gifts from Papá Noel  
Shoes, dolls, chocolates  
But what she wanted most  
Is nowhere to be found  
“Why isn't he here, Mamá?"  
There’s no answer  
And there won’t be  
Not until he comes back

Unopened letters arrive  
From every hotel in Mexico  
“No such man stays here”  
They’ll never know where he’s been  
Not until he comes back

Familiar melodies lurk around bends  
“The way you keep me guessing...”  
“For this music is my language...”  
Mamá shuts it all down  
With a flick of her boot  
You can’t play music around the Riveras  
Not until he comes back

The horizon rises and falls  
Shoes are stitched and sold  
Pennies are pinched  
Old bound schoolbooks traded for wares  
“We can’t spend money on new things, mi’ija  
Not until he comes back”

Fingers pull through clean, damp hair  
Prepping ribbon bound braids  
She’s always worn her hair this way  
Maybe someday she’ll change it  
But not until he comes back  
  
One day, she skips into town, pink skirt flying  
To borrow a cup of brown sugar  
And returns madly in love  
With a cherub-cheeked boy  
Whose smile could melt snow  
She lies and dreams awake of dresses and rings  
Not yet, she reminds herself  
Not until he comes back

Swollen belly  
Tiny kicking feet  
She hopes it’s a girl  
She may want a boy, too  
But not until he comes back

Purple dresses fly across the courtyard  
Four wide eyes full of questions  
They’re drawing a family tree  
She helps with lower branches  
But won’t fill in the missing piece  
With a name, face, or story  
Not until he comes back

Pitch dark hair streaked with frost  
Proud brown eyes catch hers  
From across the workshop  
And beam  
All they’ve built  
Thriving business  
Half-finished pair of blue baby shoes  
A family  
And then  
A strong but aching body crumples to the ground  
She screams, “No, Mamá! You can’t leave!  
Not until he comes back!”

Ninety nine trips around the sun  
35,000 missed lullabies  
Five generations of “no musica!”  
The son of her daughter’s son plays at her feet  
Fatigue in her body, bones, and heart  
Is it time to go home?  
No, she smiles, it can’t be  
Not until he comes back


End file.
